Changes to the Rail Fares have reduced the cost to Wicklow Town commuters which is welcome. However the rail service is the worst in the Greater Dublin Area with only 2 trains at rush hour. I produced a Plan 6 years ago to provide 3 longer trains at rush hour from Gorey as well as more Greystones DARTs but nothing has happened to implement this. We need to provide an alternative to commuters using cars on the N11.
The Council has purchased a building built for an Enterprise Centre in Hawkins Wood. It will now get it fitted out and open it later in 2024 with an emphasis on start up businesses. ‘I welcome this as Greystones has the least local employment of any town in Wicklow, we can’t all commute in the future’ said Cllr Derek Mitchell (FG). This was zoned with an Enterprise Centre as a compulsory condition, about 15 years ago following a campaign by the then Chamber of Commerce. The site was later sold…
The new train timetable, from the 10th December, which has been promoted as having more trains has a 1.5 and a 2 hour gap between northbound DARTs on Sundays in the afternoon/evening. Visitors and residents expect a more frequent service. We should be trying to get people out of their cars by providing a good train service and encourage visitors. This does the opposite. The top complaint nationally on the new rail timetable was the need for more trains on the Rosslare line. Also many complained about the need for…
Irish Rail has eventually replied to me to say they will change the instructions to the DART Controllers so that when trains have to be cancelled they will consider the long interval between trains in Greystones and try not to cancel that service. This is a problem, especially at the weekend when the interval is hourly and people have been left waiting for nearly an hour. ‘I hope this will improve the weekend service especially’ said Cllr Derek Mitchell. The information on the station electronic signs and on the…
On Saturday, when there is an hourly Dart service, Irish Rail cancelled one and then the diesel train from Rosslare was delayed 25 minutes The electronic signs showed that there would be a train sooner. There was no announcement only the wrong electronic display. There were no staff in the station. About 150 passengers were left on the platform for 50 minutes expecting a train soon, many were families with babies and older people. This is very bad management of the customers: The DART controller should send another one down…
A group from the Dutch Cycling Embassy visited Greystones with the Dutch Ambassador. They are experts at designing cycling facilities and keen to persuade other countries to cycle more like the Dutch do. They gave a talk in the Greystones Municipal rooms to some Councillors and some Council Engineers. Later on they cycled around Greystones and looked at facilities at some schools and other parts of the town. I cycled around the town with them. The picture shows us inspecting the cycling lanes on the seafront by the ‘Seaside Bear’…
This scale of site clearance is normally only done when construction starts with planning permission which follows a detailed landscape plan. This clearance also goes down to the Three Trout Stream through the riparian area in at least 1 place. The Council Chief Executive states it is for 75 houses, as was outlined 5 years ago. Some people state it is for 270 houses. This is a major increase when the May 2022 Census showed the that the town was then already over its 2028 population target. Many more houses…
N11 Bus Priority Scheme will create traffic jams Closing the Enniskerry and Kilcroney road connections to the N11 will produce traffic jams in Bray, Enniskerry and on the N11. The bus lane only scheme does not provide any place for the displaced traffic. The main scheme, which has been worked on for 5 years, provided a lane parallel to the N11 to take this traffic from the two closed junctions. I have made a submission to n11m11@arup.com saying the main J4 Loughlinstown to J14 scheme, which includes a bus lane…
Mitchell demands Rail Strategy is revised to improve Wicklow Rail Service The draft All Island Rail Strategy ignored improvements needed to the Wicklow Rail Service. Cllr Derek Mitchell said ‘I have made a submission demanding improvements as the Wicklow Rail line has the worst service and is the only single track one in the Greater Dublin Area. The Council has also made a submission of similar points following my request. I hope the strategy is improved as the population is expanding rapidly ’. My 2018 rail plan provided a 3km…
The N11 Interim Bus Priority Scheme is open for Public Display on the web. This provides for bus lanes from Loughlinstown to Fassaroe on both sides and from the Glenview to Kilmacanoge, Northbound. Also a more complex Central Section from Fassaroe to Kilmacanoge on both sides of the road. A detailed look at it shows it is much more extensive than initially appears. It involves closing the Enniskerry and Kilcroney turnoffs from the N11 to all traffic. I think this will divert a lot of traffic back into Bray and…
© 2024 Councillor Derek Mitchell.
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